S.M.
Hi R.,
My daughter has had a hard time with eating almost her entire life. She is now 27 months old and finally, finally eats like a champion, but her first two years were really tough on our family. I breastfed her until she was 23 months old and that's really all she cared about, no matter how much solid food we introduced. She is not a huge fan of cow or soy or rice milk and will drink less than a glass a day so we supplement her calcium in many ways (broccoli, vitamins, fortified OJ, cheese, etc.) but she does not get all those fatty calories she could.
Anyway, you say your son is gaining weight and your doctor is not overly concerned, so your son seems like he is pacing along normally to me. My daughter did not gain weight well, she has always been in the 3 to 5 percentile for weight and sometimes even off the chart. We saw a pediatric nutritionist, two pediatricians and a naturopath to try to conquer this lack of interest in eating (and her dad is a wonderful chef, by trade!). All of them helped a little bit, but the main things that worked for us:
* acidophilus makes her hungry; I don't know why. I give it to her 1/2 hour before mealtime.
* smaller portions of food worked great. Babies can only take 2 or 3 portions the size of their palm for a meal--that's about what your son is eating, right? Their tummies are so small and we had to reduce the size of what we were serving her so she actually asked for more when done. This is a mind game you can win over toddlers.
* lots of exercise worked great right about 18 months--we enrolled her in soccer, took her to the park daily, anything to get those ya ya's out and build up an appetite.
* peer pressure worked well--in her daily Montessori care, food prep and family style eating is a huge factor. When she saw other kids eating, she clued in to what she could do too. It took awhile, and she would often play while others ate, but it had a long lasting effect and positive relationship with food.
Hope it works out--I know what you mean by desperate. it is a horrible feeling not to be able to nourish your child the way you want to. Been there! Best of luck,
S.